Improvement in insulated telegraph-wires



UNITED STATES PATENT rrron WILSON STRICKLER, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN INSULATED TELEGRAPH-WIRES.

Speofication for'ning part of Letters Patent No. 162304, datcd April 20, 1875; appliration filed August 22, 1874.

To all whom it may conccrn:

Be it known that I, W1LsoN STRICKLER, of Lebanon, county of Lebanon, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new Improvement in Gutta-Percha and IndiaRubber (Gaoutchouc) Govered Telegraph-Wires, ot' which the following is a specitication Figures l and 2 are sectiohal views of the wire.

The object of my invention is to furnish a nore durable and more perfectly insuhted guttapereha and india-rubber covered wire for telegraphic purposes than the gutta-percha and ii'dia-rubber Wires at present in use, specially adapting them (when treated by my process) for bells, tunnels, mining, railway, subterranean, and suhnarine purposes; and to these ends my inventi'on consists in the application to a telegraphic ivire insulated by a coating of india-rubber or gutta-percha of thin sheets of mica or pulverized inica heated to about a cherrvred, and then suddenly cooled and dried, and applied between the wire and its coating ot india-rubber or gutta-percha, and also on the outside of the latter, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the manufacture of my telegraphic wire, I enploy mica in the form of thin sheets or pulverized, or both. The mica is heated to about a cherry-red heat, which will cause it to lose its elastioity and drive oi' any impurities. lt is then suddenly cooled, and when dried, it' in sheets, is attached to the wire by a binding` of yarn or its equivalent, or in any other suitable manner.

At the joints of the wires the niica acts both as an insulator for them, and as an auxiliary means for uniting them in making good electric connections. The india-rubber or guttapercha coating is then applied, after having been dipped in coal-tar, which closes the pores ot' the india-rubber or gutta-percha coat ing. Just before the coal-tar has become cold on the outer surface of the coating the eXi'oliated inica is applied thereto, the coal-tar, by its adhesiveness, securely retaining or holding the sheets of nica in place on the outside of the india-rubber or gutta-percha coating.

The inica may be pulverized and treated as heretofore described, and the wire, with its gutta-perchacovering coated with coal-tar,n1ay

be drawn through the pulverized inica before the coal-tar on the outside of the india-rubber or gutta-percha coating has become perfectly solidified, there-by causing the mica to adhere to the coating. The niica protects the wire which it eneompasses against ehenical action,

because the mica itself is insolvent by niost chenicals, and, being a pure mineral, produces no action upon the wire; and, further, the mica acts as an insulator to retain the current of electricity upon the wire, and does not allow it to be dissipated.

It will be seen that in my inveution the "coal-tar for coating the india-rubber or gotta percha covering of the wire is employed to close the poresof the latter, and prevent the escape of currents ot' electricity, and at the same time it is enployed, from its adhesiveness, as a means for retaining the niica in its position on the india-rubber or guttapercha coating.

I an aware that coaltar has heretofore been applied to the outside of the india-rubber or gutta-percha coating of a telegraphic wire to prevent the escape of currents ot' electricity therefron, and I therefore lay no claim thereto 3 but I ain not aware that the coal-tar applied as above described has heretot'ore been einployed for the double purpose of closing the pores of the india-rubber or guttapercha coa ting, and as a means of holding the mica in place on said coating.

I am a's) aware that in insulators for telegraphic wires a wrapping of niica introduced between a netallic pin and the body oi" the insulator, as described in Letters Patent granted to Joseph J. Gonllin, Jr., dated April 23, 1872, has hereto'fore been einployed, and I therefore lay no claim to such invention; his insulator being entirely different from my telegraphic wire, and his invention described no such process as mine for applying the niica to the india-rubber or gutta-percha covering of the wire.

What I clain as new, and dcsire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article ot' manufacture, a telegraphic wire insulated by a eovering of indiarubber or gutta percha, coated with coal-tar, and provided with nica applied both to the outside and inside of the gutta-percha or india-ruhber covering for the Wres, as and for coal-tar performing the double functious of the purpose set forth. elosing the pores of the eovering and causing 2. The method heren described of in sulatthe retentiou of the mica in place, as set forth. in g a telegraphie Wire, eosisting of the appli- (EiOD of miea around the Wire, and then en- WILSON STRICKLER. compassng the wire and mica With a cover- Witnesses: ing of india-rubber or gutta-percha dipped in JAMES W. EBEN,

eoa-l-tar, to' which miezt is theu applied, the JOHN H. LIGHT. 

